On Monday, June 23, the World Trade Center of New Orleans (WTCNO) will launch the first of four lectures in the 2014 Executive Speaker Series. The Executive Speaker Series was established in 2012 by the WTCNO to offer Louisiana businesses the opportunity to network and gain valuable insights from industry leaders across the nation.

The series’ first featured speaker Hal Carper is the Executive Vice President of Strategy & New Ventures at Tyson Foods. Interested professionals can click here to learn more about the Executive Speaker Series and register for a lecture.

You’re invited to the Final Round of the Venture Challenge competition, which will exhibit LSU’s brightest student entrepreneurs and provide $25,000 in seed capital to the growth of six student ventures.

On April 25, four student finalists will pitch their businesses to a panel of judges for a chance to win up to $15,000 towards their entrepreneurial endeavors. All LSU Student Incubator companies are invited to display their businesses at the Startup Showcase, which concurs with the competition’s Final Round and grants you the opportunity to select your favorite startup! The Startup Showcase crowd favorite will be awarded $1,000 and the runner-up will receive $500. Directly after the final presentations, we will host an Awards Reception to grant six student-run businesses worth a total of $25,000!

Click here for more information and reserve your spot for the Final Round of the 3rd Annual Venture Challenge!

Join us in the LSU Student Union’s Atchafalaya Room, as we showcase LSU Student Startups and celebrate Entrepreneurship at LSU!

Fleur de Lis Hydroponics, of Mandeville, is launching into an operational phase after graduating from LSU’s Louisiana Business and Technology Center business incubator.

The company provides fertilizer to customers who are growing fruits, vegetables and herbs without soil, including one of south Louisiana’s most popular supermarket chains.

Having completed its research, the company has teamed with Southern Chem Industries in Reserve to blend and bottle fertilizer. Fleur de Lis Hydroponics is working to test fertilizers and products for hydroponic herb gardens on top of Rouses Supermarkets.

The company has a number of clients, including the Fleur De Lis Events Center in Mandeville, which uses the hydroponic equipment to grow produce served at the center, and Dominique’s on Magazine, a restaurant owned by acclaimed New Orleans chef Dominique Macquet.

Equipment from Fleur de Lis is also used at the Hollygrove Market and Farm, which was set up to provide fresh produce to New Orleans residents.

“We could not have progressed to this point this fast without the facility and assistance of the Louisiana Business and Technology Center and the resources of LSU,” said Ken Waters, of Fleur de Lis. Fleur de Lis has about 10 employees.

Fleur de Lis Hydroponics became the 166th company to graduate from the business incubator program, which has created more than 10,000 jobs since 1988. The company still has a laboratory at the LBTC.

The company’s website says hydroponics — the process of growing plants without soil — allows growing fresh produce in a small space like a small yard, porch, balcony or confined indoor spaces; can result in year-round production; involves less soil and water; reduces the need for pesticides; and can result in faster grow rates and larger yields.

Sheila Keller, a marketing manager for Fleur de Lis, said the interest in hydroponics fits in well with the trend of eating locally.

“If you can eat food that’s grown close to home, that’s the healthiest thing you can eat,” she said.

Getting a hydroponic garden up and running is fairly easy, Keller said. She notes the hydroponic garden at the Fleur De Lis Events Center was set up in 24 hours and now has almost 400 plants growing in it.

A current University student and an alumnus are tying the knot with college campuses all over the U.S., forming a bow tie company with a level of class and culture that only comes from the South.

Jordy Scholhamer, who graduated in 2011, and Claire Bourgeois, a business management senior, knew their dream of starting a bow tie business would be a reality when Scholhamer’s mother blurted out what she thought should be the name of the future bow tie company — Ties to the South.

After Scholhamer’s mother was diagnosed with cancer in 2012, she spent much of her time sewing.

“My youngest brother was leaving for college and joining a frat, so my mom started making bow ties for him and some of the guys in his fraternity,” Scholhamer said.

His mother Judy grew up in her mother’s sewing studio, so making a business out of sewing bow ties was a natural transition.

Judy, who Bourgeois and Scholhamer refer to as the “designer extraordinaire,” handles all of the sewing and ensures the handmade quality of every bow tie.

“A bow tie is different than a tie,” Scholhamer said. “It doesn’t hang in your food when you eat. It’s more casual, and who really wants to wear a tie tie?”

The company prides itself on its affordable price tag and being made in the U.S.

Bourgeois and Scholhamer said the main goal of Ties to the South is to make the product “tie together the ties of the states.”

“For example, in the Texas tab on our site, you will see bow ties with reds, whites and blues and burnt oranges,” Scholhamer said.

Bourgeois and Scholhamer said no matter how big the company gets, the price for every bow tie will remain $38.

“For a handmade bow tie, we think that’s very reasonable,” Scholhamer said. “We wanted to be an affordable option for something high quality.”

All bow ties from Ties to the South are named after local places or streets. In Louisiana, the most popular tie is “The Burbank.”

So far, Ties to the South boasts designs featuring 12 different states, all with unique patterns that represent each state’s local flavor, according to Bourgeois.

“We have over 50 bow tie designs, and it’s so much fun to see someone wearing all of the stuff we picked out,” Bourgeois said.

Scholhamer said that Ties to the South also does custom orders.

“We have requests to turn T-shirts into ties,” Bourgeois said. “We lay the patterns [of the T-shirt] out so when the bow tie comes out, you can tell what it was, and they look awesome.”

While the company targets a collegiate audience, they are currently working with Mardi Gras krewes to create custom ties. The company also creates ties for groomsmen in weddings.

Although Bourgeois is a student and a business owner, she says she isn’t facing the typical challenges one might assume comes with the territory because she loves her job and because it’s football season.

Bourgeois and Scholhamer met during Scholhamer’s last semester through the business fraternity. They frequently talked about starting a business because they both considered each other business savvy and outgoing.

Creating their own company was all talk until Bourgeois brought up the idea of joining the student incubator. After that, Scholhamer said the company just started growing.

“Our name, Ties to the South, really embodies the culture of the South,” Scholhamer said. “When you come to Louisiana and hear people speak this language that isn’t really English or French, that’s your tie to the South and the food, the language and Mardi Gras.”

Bourgeois and Scholhamer agreed bow ties are making a resurgence right now.

“There is a huge infatuation with the South right now in the media,” Scholhamer said. “Even up in the North, it’s a market we haven’t tapped into yet, but it’s definitely there, especially with the number of graduates that LSU has placed in northern cities like Chicago.”

Bourgeois said the site received hits from almost every state, the United Kingdom and even Argentina.

The company just kicked off a representative program as a part of its marketing campaign, allowing more people to get involved. So far, there are seven representatives in South Carolina, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee.

Bourgeois and Scholhamer are staying tied to LSU in a unique way.

Mass communication students in Professor Kasey Windels’ qualitative audience analysis class are partnering with Ties to the South to help the company with its branding strategies.

“The goal of this class is to get students to understand a person’s relationship with a brand,” Windels said.

Students are also doing secondary research for the company, finding out who the company’s competitors are.

“By the end of the semester, students will have a big research report that they will give to Claire [Bourgeois], and it will say who Ties to the South should be talking to, how to talk to them and how the company should market to that certain group of people,” Windels said.

Windels said she chose Ties to the South as a company for her students to research because she wanted clients who were easily accessible and needed help with their brand and target audience.

“We love football, we love the South and we love being from here,” Bourgeois said. “It’s a bright and colorful culture and that goes in to how our ties are made.”

The LSU Innovation Park has won the Emerging Research Park Award from the Association of University Research Parks, a professional association of university-related research and science parks.

Innovation Park was recognized for excelling in bringing technology from the laboratory to economically viable business activities and promoting business growth and public revenue.

While the Louisiana Business and Technology Center has been providing incubation services for 25 years, LSU made the decision in 2008 to proceed with the new Louisiana State Innovation Park. The Park has since become home to such organizations as the LSU Center for BioModular Multi-Scale Systems, the Louisiana Technology Transfer Office, and EA (Electronic Arts) Sports.

Impression Works, a software development company that specializes in mobile technology, is moving out of LSU’s Louisiana Business and Technology Center after landing a contract with the Alliance Safety Council to help recruit construction workers.

Impression Works was founded by Travis Broussard in January 2011. It moved into the business incubator at the start of 2012 and began working on an app called Mobile Job Force. MJF was introduced in March for the restaurant industry to connect job applicants with restaurant managers.

Kathy Trahan, chief executive officer and president of the Alliance Safety Council, said her organization wanted to adapt MJF for the construction industry because there is an ongoing demand across Louisiana for skilled crafts workers.

“The restaurant industry in Louisiana uses the application as a recruiting and staffing tool. While we will not be using it for staffing, we will integrate some of the app features into productivity tools that will enhance our current iLevel database functionality. This in turn will allow our members to manage their projects more efficiently,” Trahan said.

The value of the contract was not disclosed. Impression Works is moving out of its offices at LSU and into the Baton Rouge offices of the Alliance Safety Council. The company, which now has four employees, plans to hire three additional workers by the end of the year, Broussard said.

“One of the things that we learned from the business consultants at LBTC is to not put our technology in a box,” said Greg Hamburg, solutions architect for Impression Works and the co-creator of MJF. “Yes our goal was to help the restaurant industry, but we found that every industry is lacking mobile solutions as it relates to managing their most important assets, their people.”

E.A.S.Y. Ads Advertising & Directory is digital advertising marketing and design firm. The company was founded in 2011 and is owned by Mardia Scott, Jr.

EcoPro is a solar energy company that distributes energy efficient products such as solar panels, inverters and racking systems. The company’s owner is Beau Dingler.

Factor3 Solutions is an information management company that builds and uses a data focused business model for the company and its clients. They offer information collection, interpretation and integration services. Factor 3 Solutions is owned by Keith Braddock.

The LBTC strives to create a dynamic environment for tenants so they can focus on product or technology development in addition to sales and marketing initiatives.

Current tenant companies are creating over 140 full time jobs in Baton Rouge. The Center has graduated tenants with 2,278 jobs created since 1989, 78% of which are still in business.

Four businesses led by LSU students, representing everything from a drink that helps prevent kidney stones to a device that monitors electrical appliance usage and shuts down outlets, participated in a competition Friday for a share of a $25,000 prize.

The LSU Student Incubator Venture Challenge was a “Shark Tank” type competition, where the student companies pitched their plans to a panel of local business leaders. Eighteen of the 44 businesses in the LSU Student Incubator submitted business plans for consideration in the competition. After two rounds, the field was whittled to four finalists.

Frosted, a gourmet cupcakes store founded by Kyle Anderman, of Baton Rouge, was the big winner, receiving a check for $8,000. A Frosted retail store at Nicholson and Lee drives has been open since Feb. 29, 2012, but Anderman plans to use the money to buy a truck so he can start a mobile cupcake business. He also wants to install a cupcake vending machine on the LSU campus.

“I want to franchise this business,” Anderman said.

Econofy, which offers a device to let people monitor their electricity usage and shut off outlets in order to lower their utility bills, was awarded $7,000. The company was founded by Lauren Lee Stuart and William Wagner, both of Baton Rouge.

“This is fantastic that they offer a competition like this,” Stuart said. She plans to use the money to help patent the Econofy technology and get computer chips made for the device.

Rock Water, a company founded by Mark Moss of Shreveport, was also awarded $7,000. Rock Water makes a doctor-formulated beverage, which helps aid in the prevention of kidney stone formation. Moss plans to use the money to pay for clinical trials of the beverage at Pennington Biomedical Research Center.

“This has been a really great opportunity,” Moss said. “I’ve been able to network with a lot of other businesses.”

Supedup Auto, a mobile vehicle cleaning and detailing service founded by Gary Shuford of Baton Rouge, was awarded $3,000. Shuford plans to use the money to buy a truck that will better promote his business and allow him to service customers better.

“This has been a positive experience,” Shuford said. “I’ve spent the past three weeks working on my business plan, learning everything I can to improve my presentation.”

Charles D’Agostino, executive director of the Louisiana Business & Technology Center, said the student incubator was formed to help combat the “brain drain” of students who graduate from LSU and leave for cities like Atlanta, Houston or Dallas.

“Once these people have created their jobs, they’re not going to leave this community,” he said. “This program has been proven to work in the two years since we have been involved.”

Two of the winner’s of last year’s Venture Challenge were LocalMed and Yellow Jacket. Local Med develops software that allows patients to schedule appointments through their computer, smartphone or tablet at any time with participating doctors and dentists. LocalMed has already raised $1.56 million in capital, moved into an office on Sherwood Forest Boulevard and plans to hire 52 employees by 2016.

Yellow Jacket, which developed a stun gun iPhone case, has moved into an office downtown and is starting to sell its products online and at Academy Sports and Outdoors.

The company sold 1,000 stun gun cases online through the crowdfunding platform Indiegogo.com, a move that brought in $100,000 for Yellow Jacket.